Brewpub a stumbling block for Port harborwalk pedestrians

Construction site blocks lakefront walk, but city says crushed stone path will remedy issue for walkers

A CONSTRUCTION FENCE at the Inventors Brewpub site has largely cut off access to the harborwalk behind the Port Harbor Center, impeding people who want to walk around the north slip. However, city officials said a crushed stone path should be installed this week. Photo by Bill Schanen IV
By 
KRISTYN HALBIG ZIEHM
Ozaukee Press staff

Construction of the new Inventors Brewpub on Port Washington’s lakefront is beginning to take shape, but the process is making it more difficult for pedestrians to traverse the city’s harborwalk.

That’s because construction fencing  is largely blocking the harborwalk on the west side of the building site, behind the Port Harbor Center.

But that’s about to change. Port Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said Tuesday that by the end of the week a five-foot-wide crushed stone path will connect the harborwalk with Washington Street. That walkway should be wheelchair accessible, he added.

“There should have been a good connection to Washington Street this whole time,” he said.

There may be times when the walkway has to be closed to accommodate construction, Vanden Noven added, but those should be limited.

On the east side, the construction has taken up seven parking spots in the marina parking lot, Ald. Mike Gasper noted.

“There’s not a lot of room there to put stuff,” he said.

Gertjan van den Broek of TBF Inc., which is constructing the brewpub, said Tuesday that there is a narrow path on the west side of the construction site now but the compacted gravel walkway will make it easier for people.

The city is requiring access to the harborwalk be maintained from Memorial Day to Labor Day, he said, “but we’re probably going to do something sooner.”

In the interim, many people have been using the marina dock below the harborwalk instead, van den Broek said.

Throughout the construction, two-way traffic will be maintained on Washington Street but there will be no parking in the 300 block where construction is occurring.

Although a groundbreaking for the brewpub was held last summer, supply chain issues, particularly in obtaining steel,  caused the work to be delayed, van den Broek said.

“If it wasn’t for the steel, Inventors would be open right now,” he said.
Inventors owner Adam Draeger said in an interview that some preconstruction work had been expected to begin in December but weather disrupted that plan. Crews are currently working on the 15-foot geo-piers needed to support the building now instead.

“Then we’ll have a property that’s suitable to build on,” he said.

Before the concrete’s poured, the plumbing needs to be laid, he said, and as they set the forms for the concrete, they will rough in the foundations and slabs. Then the framework of the structure will go up.

During the interim, Draeger said, they have changed general contractors and made some design changes to accommodate not just the supply chain issues but the rising cost of materials and some practical aspects of the building.

“We needed to get creative and adjust some things,” he said. “There’s no change to how we’re going to use the building.”

The revised plans were recommended by the Design Review Board Tuesday and will be considered by the Plan Commission Thursday, April 20.

The building will be about 2-1/2 feet shorter than originally planned, something made possible because they shortened the first floor by 18 inches.

That is notable, Bob Harris, the city’s director of planning and development, said.

“A majority of the building is now under 32 feet,” he said.

The pitch of the roof and lower eaves  will also help create a less imposing structure, Inventors’ architect Joel Agacki said.

The size of some windows has changed, Agacki said, and some features, including an overhang on the northeast side of the building, have been eliminated or altered.

Board members particularly took note of a change in the west facade, which had translucent panels originally but is now primarily a blank wall.

“To me, the biggest thing I’m mourning is the loss of glazing on the west end,” architect Jeremy Hartline, a board member, said. “It’s a little bit stark there ... a little wimpy. I recognize the functional issues, but that’s a prime location. It faces the city. It’s one of the first things anyone will see (from Washington Street).

“It needs more of something.”

Fire Chief Mark Mitchell, a member of the board, agreed.

“It needs an eye popper,” he said.

Board members noted in their approval of the building that something needs to be added to the west side of the structure.

Van den Broek said Draeger has a mural in mind for that side of the building, but said that plan hasn’t been finalized.

He has seen the preliminary design for the mural, van den Broek added, and “it’s stunning.”

The change in materials and the impact on the building frustrated some board members.

“To me, it looks like two different buildings,” Mitchell said.

But Agacki said care was taken to maintain the integrity of the design.

“We took great pains to make this as close to the (original design) as we could,” he said. “We’re still there in spirit.”

Van den Broek said they now have firm bids from every vendor with a firm schedule for the construction.

The building should be completed by Dec. 31, Draeger said. Then they can move in and begin equipping the kitchen and furnishing the building, which should be open in spring.

“I’m just happy dirt’s flying,” he said. “We just can’t wait to see how the community’s going to use this space. We think it’s going to be something special.”

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